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There should be a couple of small holes that you can use a drill or paper clip to hold the brushes in the holder until the brushes are installed. Once install you just pull the drill or paper clip out and the brushes will come into contact with the rotor shaft.

Thanks; I took another look at my regulator and there are no holes as depicted in the video. It appears that the regulator comes outfitted with a rotor shaft cap that slides on two tracks and snaps in place after the regulator is installed. This allows you to easily place the brushes against the shaft during installation. Once the regulator is fastened down the cap snaps into place. I destroyed my old cap during a post-mortem trying to remove it so it is a one way thing. It would not slide off.

Interesting, I had a E34 and replace the regulator on that alternator and it had the holes to fit a drill to retain the brushes. Wonder why they are making the car so complicated to work on. I guess they want you to replace the entire alternator instead of just replacing components.

Interesting, I had a E34 and replace the regulator on that alternator and it had the holes to fit a drill to retain the brushes. Wonder why they are making the car so complicated to work on. I guess they want you to replace the entire alternator instead of just replacing components.

Maybe its a difference between manufacturers. My original and replacement alternators were Valeo.

Found a better Youtube Video on replacing brushes in a Valeo alternator.

You da man, thanks; This is the same as my alternator. I see now how to take the cap off by removing the lock tab. Now that I viewed the video I will see if I can repair the cap. If I can reassemble the cap maintaining its integrity I will replace the brushes and have the alternator tested. Otherwise I need to invest in a new regulator. If all is good after testing i'll put if up for sale and see if I can get a few dollars for it and recoup some of my investment. I appreciate your help on this.

Ok so I came across this thread a few days ago and thought I'd write my experiences and hopefully save people some cash!!

So as briefly as possible........

Bought our e60 530d earlier this year, great car but had a few issues. The day after buying it we broke down after stopping for fuel, car was completely dead! BMW couldn't do anything until days later so proceeded to google potential reasons, IBS, screwed battery and alternator all came up. We hoped it was just the battery so had one brought over to us, worth mentioning that the guy at the autopart centre sent the wrong battery, a crappy little thing but did say over the phone to drive the car straight over and he'd check the old battery and alternator.

New battery on and a 10 min drive later we arrived at the garage, he checked the battery they'd just sold to us and it was fried! To be fair they replaced it with a higher amp unit and popped the bonnet and gave it some revs, there was rubber churning out from the bottom crank pully which explained the problem charging. So one day in and its in for a new pulley and belts. For the months following it drove immaculately and only about a week ago started having issues. The low battery light came on and all the "usual" scary warnings lit up the display, drove the car home and switched off, went to restart and nothing happened whatsoever..... got a booster pack on the front jump points and no luck, put a second unit on the battery in the boot and a few minuets later she jumped back to life decided to just drive down to the bottom of the culdesac and back (about 200m) then leave her ticking over for a while on the driveway....Bad decision! on the return leg it suddenly stopped, I mean like a train had just hit full on! boot flew open and wipers slowly moved, wasn't fun pushing it back onto the drive! Battery off and charged over night, worked perfectly!! for about a week.

So a couple of days ago whilst pulling out of the car park at the hospital the same thing happened! dead, boot flew open and left us blocking the entrance for the ambulances, luckily a security guy helped push it onto the kerb. Battery off and charged for about 8 hours, back to the car and fired up without a problem. So Alternator surely? Well I ordered a cable and inpa software to try and figure it out myself ( still hasnt arrived ) So yesterday morning I accessed the hidden Idrive menu and selected menu 9 which gives the battery voltage and charging voltage, showed the battery rapidly decreasing on tick over and huge drain when lights on, air con on etc..... Popped over to local battery place just to have it checked before forking out for a new alternator which tested perfectly, The guy suggested I drive over to an auto electrician and have the alternator tested which we did, to my surprise the alternator started charging perfectly at about 14.4v a few mins into the journey!!

The guy at crewe auto electrics asked us to pop over at 10 this morning and he'd check thoroughly which he did. so this is what I have learned today.....

The alternator is designed to only charge once its satisfied that the surge in volts won't damage the little components that control the various functions of the car, he explained that the MPM and other components take a few minuets after start up to "settle" into their normal operating mode and although the battery is crying out for replenishment the alternator won't until its sure it'll cause no damage! I have read threads where people say they believe they have faulty alternators because it doesn't charge until its "warmed up" this would explain the 5 minuets people have been saying it takes before the alternator charges properly.

So having done only literally the odd mile here and there over the last few weeks this would explain a lot, He explained as simply as possible that the initial crank in the morning takes about 350amps out of the battery so unless you have a good few miles following it the alternator wont even begin to recharge the battery! He showed that it took around 35-40 minuets after switching the car off before the car went into sleep mode! I watched as for atleast 30 minuets the battery was draining at around 0.25amps until it suddenly "went to sleep" and was down to 0.02amp drain.

So..... In my opinion (or more his) a very complicated system is in place to protect the car but it requires a little thought from us owners.

try it for yourself, hidden menu 9 and each day take the same road and each day you'll be at about the same place on that road when you see the voltage jump from around 11.9-12.3 to its intended 14.4v

I ordered a replacement alternator for my 2006 4.4i just before I saw the second page of this post. I have a hard time believing that even if the alternator somehow waits until it's safe to charge... that this would take 10 minutes of drive time twice a day (my experience). I'm currently driving an extra mile or so in my commute so the car will charge a bit before I park.

Anyway, I mostly wanted to thank you guys for this write-up. It's exactly the problem I'm having. Ordered a remanufactured alternator for $105, since it was as cheap as I could find the regulator, and I'm wary of trying to replace those brushes myself.